Last time, having been delivering workshops about the research and development process of putting a production together in an Oxfordshire school, I explained how a certain book had helped guide some of the activities for the sessions.
Theatre has been a main player in my life this past week. With covid knocking at my door and me being knocked for six, I’ve had chance to not only clear down the office but spend time working on my latest play (working title Lost and Found).
This is a special one for me. My debut full-length play was performed five years ago, months before Covid arrived at our shores, and received critical acclaim and sell out performances. Immediately after, I wanted to get the second play written and out there. Lockdown really should have made that easy - lots of time in the summer garden to write - but the manuscript wouldn’t form past ideas on scraps of paper.
Our local rep theatre offers workshops in the summer and I have had the chance over the past couple of years to work with playwright Clare Bayley. Her advice has been invaluable, but at our last meeting she asked when my play would actually be written. It was a good question. I’d been promising but life was taking me over at a rate of knots. Many of the activities in her workshop she’d pulled into a book and directed me to it in an act of shameless promotion. Why wouldn’t you? She’s good at what she does. I immediately left the workshop (we had finished) and headed to the bookshop. One copy remained. It was an omen.
Since then I’ve read it cover to cover and dipped in and out. This week, being off ill and struggling to do little else, I’ve been able to make great progress with my script and whilst I know it will need a hefty edit, between the advice from Clare Bayley, and Mike Bartlett who I’ve also workshopped with, I’ve felt a real shift in my work and the ideas are flowing, the play is coming together, and who knows, we may be able to get a cast to workshop it later this year.
If you’re wanting to do playwriting, this is a really handy book to have on your shelf.
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